Friday, September 6, 2013

Banana bread

Have you ever bought bananas and you kind of forgot about them until they were already ripe and browned slightly? I personally don't like eating browned or soft bananas, so the best way to use them up is by baking banana bread!

The instructions are pretty simple and easy to follow and Chef John even made a video!

Ingredients:
  • 3 ripe bananas, peeled
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 cup soft butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/8 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tbsp milk
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
  • 1/2 cup coconut flakes
  • 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
Directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit or 160 degrees Celsius.
  2. Mash the bananas with a potato masher and put aside.
  3. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Whisk the mixture for a minute instead of sifting it.
  4. In another bowl, cream together the butter and sugar using a spatula. Whisk in the mashed bananas. The butter mixture and bananas won't want to mix, but keep mixing until combined.
  5. Whisk in the eggs on at a time. Add the vanilla extract and milk.
  6. To the wet mixture, add the chopped walnuts, coconut flakes and chocolate chips. Stir in the flour mixture until just integrated.
  7. Transfer the batter into a lightly oiled loaf pan. Tap the pan so there won't be any air bubbles in the bottom.
  8. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
  9. Let the bread sit in the pan for 15 to 20 minutes. Let it cool completely on cooling rack before slicing.


Enjoy!!!


Saturday, February 2, 2013

DIY Frosting bags

Homemade frosting bags are much cheaper than store bought. That is why I decided to fuse a regular plastic bag and fuse it in a way to create two frosting bags. I used the Ikea Hylta plastic bags, but you can really use any type. To fuse the bags, you need an iron and an ironing board, wax paper and of course the bags. I was really new to fusing bags, so I used tips from Releve design.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Polka dot cake



I was "surfing" on pinterest and I found this really great idea to make a cake with polka dots INSIDE. I don't have a cake pop pan, so I just made a few muffins, crumbled them and rolled them into balls. I'm not really familiar with cake pops, so I didn't alter the recipe in any way. The cake turned out great and it looks amazing and added that extra wow to the cake.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Mini Cheesecakes


I made a frozen cheesecake on Friday. I really wanted to try something new, so I made mini cheesecakes as well. The real trick is to make the crust and filling, then just put in a muffin pan with the paper linings, then bake, or in this case freeze. I tried out a new recipe this time which I am still not sure about, so I will give you  the recipe that I made a few times with great reviews this summer. The original recipe is from allrecipes.

Friday, January 4, 2013

Lemon Meringue Pie

I finally got the time to bake a lemon meringue pie. I really wanted to make the pie taste and look great, since my last try failed. I adapted a recipe from Kitchen for Kids by Jennifer Low. I adapted it a bit to make it fit a   10-inch pie pan. Everyone at home though it looked better than the store bought.



Sunday, December 30, 2012

Ingredient substitutions



It is really annoying when you start baking and realize you don't have all the ingredients and have to run to the  store. That is why I like to substitute ingredients. You can't substitute all of the ingredients and you can't expect the same flavour, but it is still good. I like to use the common ingredient chart from allrecipes. I want to share my version of it with you guys and I hope you will use it. I will only include the ingredients that are the most common in baking recipes.

Friday, December 28, 2012

Gingerbread cookies

This Christmas I knew I wanted to have gingerbread cookies. I made the dough on Saturday and planned to make the cookies on Christmas eve, so they'll be fresh. I was so busy on Christmas eve that I didn't get a chance to bake the cookies, so I baked them yesterday. I think that they turned out great, so I'll share this recipe with you. I used a recipe from allrecipes, except that I halved it.
(My cookies kind of crumbled when I put them in the cookie jar because I didn't let them cool completely.)

Homemade oreos

I was searching the Chocolate-covered Katie blog and found a recipe for homemade oreos. I tried making them and they turned out okay.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Awesome Soft Christmas Cookies

Delicious and chewy soft Christmas cookies you will want to munch on